In an interview with Kuwait’s daily newspaper al-Rai from earlier this month, Iraqi MP and leader of the Ummah Party, Mithal al-Alusi, called on Iraq to establish ties with Israel and expressed hope to see an Iraqi embassy in Israel at some point in the near future.

The outspoken al-Alusi, who has previously visited Israel a number of times, referred to diplomatic relations with Israel as "our [Iraqi] interest," and added that he does not want Baghdad’s interests to be solely to "Abu Mazen," the name by which Mahmoud Abbas is commonly referred to in the Arab World.

Besides normalizing relations with Israel, the interview touched on several other subjects, including the fight against the Islamic State.